Australian Business Aviation Association calls for slots at airports

The Australian Business Aviation Association (ABAA) has called on the Australian government to allocate at least one slot per hour for business aircraft.

At present, there is a strict slot system in force at Sydney Airport (pictured) – and soon to be extended to Brisbane and Perth – which affects both domestic and international operators, and makes it very difficult for business aircraft to land.
 
“Our capital cities are badly serviced,” says David Bell, executive director of the ABAA. “At Sydney, business jets or turboprops can’t land between 6am-9am and 4:30pm-7pm.”

This means that business jets wanting to fly from New York to Sydney – a popular route– have little choice but to wait until the peak periods have passed, or fly to Canberra instead.

The ABAA says its solution is simple. “We have asked the government to look into allocating one slot per peak period for business jets at each airport,” says Bell. “It’s a matter of democracy. Business aviation is an integral element in our transport system, and the government needs to take into account the contribution that this industry is making to the economy.”

The ABBA’s proposal is with the Australian government and the association is expecting a response before the end of 2012.

There are currently 170 business jets based in Australia and 250 turboprop aircraft. Bell says jet sales have been steady, growing at 5-7% a year. Despite this, there still a lack of infrastructure, which has meant that business aviation in Australia has been unable to grow to little more than 2% of the aviation industry as a whole.

Each state capital city in Australia has one major airport, apart from Melbourne, which has two.